Gotta Work Hard!
by midwheuser
Summary: When Jack decided to move to Flowerbud Village to take over his grandfather's farm he never thought that any of this would happen. Jack tries his best to run the farm while dealing with everyday life. A slightly coming of age story with slash and a focus on a slow build up of Jack and stubborn Gray's relationship. Incorporates elements from both HM64 and FoMT. Jack x Gray slash
1. I'll Work Hard, Grandpa

On a seemingly endless stretch of road, a yellow taxi cab's wheels blazed across the asphalt. A male in his late teens sat in the car's backseat and was shook awake from a sudden jerk of the car. Slowly coming back to consciousness, the teen's face grew a wide grin as he looked out the window and spotted a large hay silo and some houses in the distance. He could finally see the village! He had been in the car for hours now, heading towards Flowerbud Village. The boy let down the car window and allowed the wind to sweep through his brown hair.

"Hey," the cab driver turned around to face his passenger, "Are you sure that we're heading the right way, Mister…uh…"

"Jack." Reminded the young man, "And I'm absolutely sure that we are."

"This place just seems so dead…"

Jack closed his eyes and smiled, thinking back to his memories of the small village. It _was_ 'dead', as any ordinary person from the city would say but that was probably what made Jack love Flowerbud Village in the first place. As a child, Jack would often visit the village and spend time with his grandfather who ran one of the local farms. The days that Jack spent in the village were calm and peaceful and he grew very fond of the place but as he grew older, he started to visit it less. The last time that Jack had visited his grandfather, he was about 7 years old. The last time he had visited _Flowerbud Village_, was last Winter. Unfortunately, that last visit was to attend his grandfather's funeral, not to make any fond memories.

"Excuse me."

Jack looked up; the driver had broken him out of his thoughts.

"Huh? What is it?" he asked.

"The road seems to stop here." the driver replied.

"Oh! It's supposed to!"

"_It's supposed to?_"

"It's a small village. They don't have proper roads for cars."

The driver looked perplexed, "What?" he asked.

"It's a _really _small village." replied the young man, "I'll take it from here."

Jack opened the door of the car and went to the back of the car to open the trunk.

"Do you need any help?" asked the driver.

"No, thank you. I didn't bring that much." Jack stared at the one suitcase in the trunk of the car. It was all that he had. He pulled it out and looked at the dirt trail before him. He smiled and turned around,

"Thanks for the drop!" he told the driver. The driver simply nodded, turned around his car and drove off, leaving behind a cloud of dust. Slightly coughing at the cloud of dust that had spread around him, Jack picked up his suitcase and began his trek down the dirt trail into Flowerbud village. It was a rather long walk and the sun blazed above him,

"It's _hot!" _he exclaimed. He set his suitcase down onto the ground and carefully opened it. A simple hat laid on top of the clothes that he had packed, he picked it up and put it on.

"Much better!"

* * *

"Phew!"

Jack had finally reached his grandfather's farm and it was… barren. The time between his grandfather's death and now hadn't been kind to the farm. The crops were dead, weeds were growing all over the planting grounds and any animals that had been housed in the farm were most likely taken in by the other farm in Flowerbud Village. Fortunately, the farm's infrastructure wasn't damaged at all. The stables, chicken pens, and barn looked as good as new as did the house his grandfather resided in.

"Oh, the house." Jack whispered. The young man picked up his suitcase and made his way towards the small house. He opened the door and was welcomed with a surprisingly clean _and comfy _interior. The house had wooden tiles and wall panels. There was a small bed in the corner, a TV, wardrobe and bookcase against the wall and a table in the center of the room. There also seemed to be some sort of chest in one of the corners of the room. Jack walked towards it and opened it,

"Oh, tools! Obviously…" he chuckled.

Jack dropped his suitcase down onto the ground.

"Home sweet home!" he said.

He stretched his arms and yawned, "I wonder if I should go to be-"

**"Creeeek"**

Jack turned around, someone had opened the door. Staring at him face to face was a short man. He was dressed in a red suit and had a red top hat on top of his balding head. There was something slightly comical about the man's appearance, especially his big brown moustache and glasses that hung low on his face. Jack knew that he saw the man when he last visited but he hadn't stuck around long enough to get acquainted with him, or any of the other villagers for that matter.

"Who are you?" the question was asked by both in unison.

The man adjusted his glasses and glared at Jack, obviously trying to appear menacing despite his appearance,

"Why I'm the mayor of Flowerbud Village! The owner of this farm died a while back, who do you think you are? You can't just come waltzing in here like nobody's business!"

"Father, hold on." A timid looking girl with big glasses came up beside her father. She had long black hair and wore them in braids.

"Maria!" the mayor puffed his chest out, "There's a burglar in here. Go call the constable!"

"No, father! This is Pete's grandson." The mayor grew quiet and looked at Jack, eyeing him from head to toe. Jack put on a nervous smile. Mary went on,

"He was here last Winter for his funeral. He's supposed to be taking over the farm."

The mayor adjusted his glasses, "I see. Maria, go home then. I won't be needing you to help me clean."

"Okay." Maria looked towards Jack and blushed before running off. Jack could have sworn that he heard her whisper "I'm sorry." before she ran off.

_"Maybe she's shy around strangers." _he thought.

The mayor walked up to Jack, "I'm sorry about that. I don't have a good memory. If Maria and my wife didn't keep me in check I would forget that I'm the mayor of this place! I usually come here every so often to clean up because I knew that someone was coming to take over the place." the mayor laughed and put his hand out to shake Jack's.

"I'm Theodore! The mayor of Flowerbud Village! And you are?"

"Jack." answered the teen.

"I see. And you plan on taking over this farm from your grandfather?"

"I do, sir."

"_'Sir'_. You're polite, aren't you, boy? I like that. Are you sure you're up for this though? This is going to be a hard job, you know!"

"I know that." Jack looked out behind the mayor at the barren farmlands, "But I'm going to try my best!"

Theodore smiled, "That's the spirit. Well, I guess you're fine here, then? I'll be going now."

The mayor walked out of the house and then turned around, "If you need any help or advice, just ask. Hey, how about I show you around town?"

Jack looked back toward his bed and turned back to face the mayor, "I'm fine. I don't want to burden you and it's getting late."

"I see." the mayor nodded, "I'll let the people who you'll need most be aware of your arrival. Goodbye then, Jack!" the mayor tipped his hat off to Jack and walked off.

"Goodbye!" Jack waved before closing the door. He laid his back onto the door and sighed,

"Everyone has grown up and I haven't been here in years. What am I getting myself into? Can I really do this… hm?"

Jack spotted a picture atop the bookcase opposite him. He walked towards it and picked it up. It was a picture of him and his grandfather. Behind the two of them were a picture of a few of his grandfather's animals and Jack was holding up a tomato. Jack remembered that he grew that tomato; he remembered how happy it made his grandfather. Jack remembered not even eating the tomato, his grandfather keeping it as a 'memento' until it had gone bad. Jack laughed at the memory. He turned away from the picture and looked out the window at the still barren field.

"I'll work hard, grandpa."

* * *

We feels now.

This story will take elements from both Back to Nature and regular, old Harvest Moon 64. I suppose I'll do a write-up of exactly what's been kept/dropped/altered at some point when it becomes necessary. One thing that I'm absolutely sure will be "weird" will be that Gray and Ann are brother and sister and their father is Doug like in HM64 _but_ Saibara is also related to them as he's their _maternal grandfather_, remember how their mother had died in HM64? Well... yeah. Anyways, let's have some fun, reader guys! I'm new to writing so I'd love you if you review. Slash stuff will come later, I like a gradual build up to romance not just BAM! LOVE! BAM! SEX! Jack's going to be hard-working, optimistic, always getting back up when he's down sort of thing but he's _not_ going to be a Gary Stu, I promise you.


	2. Green Ranch

The next morning, Jack was awakened by a large pounding on his front door. He hurriedly rose up from his bed and collected himself. Jack glanced at the clock that rested on his bedside table; it was only a few minutes till 6AM. He had just moved here, who in the world would be visiting at this hour and more importantly, how did they know anyone was living there? Suddenly, the mayor's words from the evening before echoed in his head,

_"I'll let the people who you'll need most be aware of your arrival."_

Jack appreciated the thought but he would have preferred to organize things on his own, however, at least this way he'd be able to get things in order much sooner. The teen walked towards the door, getting a glance of a tall, burly man through the window as he went. He opened the door and gave the man a cheerful good morning.

"Hey there!" the man replied, "The name's Zack." He put out a rather large hand to shake Jack's.

Jack put on a wide smile, "I'm Jack." he said.

"Nice to meet you. I'm in charge of shipping for Flowerbud Village." Zack gestured towards a wooden box some distance away from the front door, "Come here, let me show you something." he said. As Zack walked towards the wooden box, Jack was able to take in more of his details. Zack was taller than him, much taller and _very_ built. He wore a grey vest which showcased his large muscles and had a towel around his neck. As Jack noticed the towel, Zack grabbed at it to dab at some droplets of sweat on his face. It was then that Jack realized that the man was _soaking_ in sweat. Even his spiky brown hair appeared to be damp.

As Jack stood next to the wooden box, Zack explained more about his job.

"This is the shipping bin." he said, "You put your readied crops in here for shipping and I'll come by around 5PM to pick them up. I'll pay you for the goods right then and there. You also have shipping bins in the barn and in the chicken pen."

Jack nodded, "Understood, I just put in crops and you come by to pick them up."

"Yeah. Crops, anything you grow or even find on the mountain, really. Don't forget the produce from your animals too, eggs, wool, milk and that stuff."

"Got it. How often do you come by?" asked Jack.

"Everyday!" replied Zack, "Oh, but not on weekends, though!" Zack laughed, "Remember that I need a break once in a while, too!"

Jack laughed along with the man, even though he had seemed intimidating at first it looked like he was a relatively nice guy.

"So, with that…" Zack went on, "Work hard, but not too hard! Don't work too hard and collapse and get sent to the clinic, if that happens you'll be out of commission for a while and that'll cause a lot of problems!"

Jack jumped at that, Zack's voice had raised his voice to a considerable amount. The teen quivered a little before speaking again,

"I-I know. I'll watch my health."

"Sorry." replied Zack, "I raise my voice a lot sometimes but it doesn't mean that I'm angry. With that said, good luck on reviving the farm! Bye!"

"Bye!" Jack waved.

Zack turned around before walking through the farm's gates,

"And remember, every day at 5PM! Except on holidays!" he shouted.

Alone once again, Jack looked around the farm. What was he supposed to do now? Plant crops? Realizing that he'd have to go into town to get some supplies, he went back into his house to get dressed.

* * *

As Jack walked out of his farm, he met a crossroad in the dirt trail. He looked at a nearby sign, straight ahead would be Flowerbud Village, turning to the right would lead him to the mountains and to the left would lead him to Green Ranch. Green Ranch? Jack thought that there might be a good place to go get some help, _after_ heading to Flowerbud Village. Although Jack wondered if the shops would even be opened so early in the morning, he decided to just go on straight ahead _until_ he heard a loud commotion. He heard a scream, it was a girl's scream, and it was coming from Green Ranch. Jack ran towards the ranch, hoping to help whoever was in trouble. The teen reached the ranch's gate, a large sign saying "Welcome" hung above.

"Help!" yelled out a girl.

Jack ran towards the voice. The girl, who appeared to be about Jack's age was chasing the horse. The girl seemed familiar. She had orange hair in a ponytail that was tied with a large white ribbon. She wore denim overalls and had a very tomboyish demeanor.

"Get out of the way!" she shouted.

The horse ran towards Jack who cowered in fear.

"Move it, idiot!" came an agitated voice. Jack felt someone shove him from behind and he hit the ground. The horse jumped over Jack and circled, coming to a stop right beside him.

"Gray!" shouted the girl, "You calmed Cliff down! Thank goodness!"

"Gray?" Jack asked. The young farmer stood up and beside him stood the horse along with another teen, perhaps the person who had pushed him. The boy was brushing the horse's fur, he had on a hat that covered much of his face and a large, cream trench coat.

"Are you okay?" came the girl's voice.

Jack felt someone patting at his clothes, he turned around and saw that it was the girl.

"I'm so sorry!" she said, "Cliff is a handful sometimes! The only person who can really calm him down is Gray over there." the girl looked in the direction of the other boy, "He's my brother. And I'm Ann!"

"It's okay. I shouldn't have ran in here like that. Anyway, I'm Jack!" Jack put his hand.

Ann laughed before shaking Jack's hand, "No need to be so formal! Nice to meet ya!"

Cliff, the horse, turned away from Gray and made his way to Jack.

"Wow!" exclaimed Ann, "Cliff is hard to please. If Cliff likes you, you must be a nice guy! Hey, do you like horses?"

"I do!" said Jack, "When I was a little kid I used to ride the horses at the old farm all the time."

"Oh, you do?" Ann smiled, "Say, can I ask you something?"

Jack nodded, "Sure."

"Umm. Hold on." Ann looked towards Gray, "Hey, Gray! What do you think about Jack?"

The boy looked at Jack and scowled. Jack met the boy's ice-cold gaze and smiled but Gray only scoffed,

"I don't think so." he said, before walking off.

"Hey!" Ann shouted after him, "Gray!" she groaned, "I'm sorry... my brother's a social disaster. Truth is, I was going to ask you if you wanted to enter the local horse race. We'll give you Cliff's brother! We don't really have a jocke... well, it's complicated."

"W-wait!" Jack was flustered, "Horse race? I'm kind of busy. You see, I'm running the old farm an-"

"What!?" Ann's mouth opened wide, "Running the old farm? Why didn't you say so!? My dad has to meet you! Come with me!" Ann grabbed at Jack's hand before he could say anything and dragged him into a small hut near the ranch's gates.

* * *

"Dad!" Ann shouted at a man behind a counter, he was hunched over it as he read a newspaper. The hut appeared to be a store. On the shelves were various types of animal feed and tools for taking caring of them.

"Dad!" Ann shouted again. The man behind the counter looked up from the newspaper. He appeared to be middle-aged and had orange hair just like his children, "This is the guy!" Ann told him, "This is the guy who's taking over the old farm! His name's Jack!"

The man walked towards the two teens,

"Jack, huh?" he put his hand out, which Jack shook, "My name's Doug." he said, "...You're taking over the farm?" The man laughed.

Jack nervously looked around, he didn't know how to take that comment. Ann glared at the man and he stopped his laughter when he noticed his daughter's harsh gaze,

"I'm sorry." he said, "I'm sorry for laughing. You just got a ton of work cut out for you, boy. Listen, my ranch raises and sells animals so I'm sure you know that we'll be depending on each other a lot. If you need any animals, feel free to come by!"

Ann grinned at Jack,

"Cows, sheep, chickens, horses... we have them all!" she said, "Oh, and Dad, this is the guy I want to take our place at the horse race."

"_What?_" asked Doug.

"You said it was my decision!" retorted the girl.

"What does Gray think?" asked Doug.

"Gray..." Ann groaned, "He's being Gray again."

"I'm okay with it then." said Doug, he looked towards the boy, "Do you want to take part in the local horse race on our behalf, Jack?" he asked.

Jack looked from Ann to Doug, "Right now, I'm focusing on getting the farm together. I need some time to think about it."

"Okay!" said Ann, "I understand."

Doug shrugged his shoulders.

Ann suddenly gasped, "Oh, your dog!"

"My dog?" asked Jack.

"Come here!" Ann grabbed Jack's hand and pulled, Doug gave Jack a silent wave as his daughter dragged him out of his store.

"We have a dog for you!" explained Ann, "The old owner of the ranch said to give it to you."

"He said to?" asked Jack.

"Look, he's over there." Ann pointed to a small dog that was running on the ranch's fields. The dog ran towards the two teens.

"This is..." Ann laughed, "Well, he actually doesn't have a name yet..."

Jack knelt down and petted the dog. He didn't know if the dog liked him or if it was just friendly but he seemed to like him.

"He's lively." said Jack.

Ann smiled, "Mhm!"

"And my grandfather left him for me?"

"He did!"

"Thanks for taking care of him, Ann."

Ann blushed, "No problem! What are you going to name him?"

"I'm going to name him Koro."

"Koro, huh? Nice name!"

Jack checked his watch and noticed the time, if they hadn't opened when he left home, the shops in town might be opening now.

"Ann, I have to go." he said, "I have to get some stuff in town."

"Oh! Do you want me to show you around?" she asked.

Jack shook his head, "It's okay."

"Well, bye! Bye bye to you too, Koro!"

As Jack stood up and walked, Koro followed him, the teen heard Ann's voice as he walked away,

"It looks like he really likes you, Jack!"

Jack looked down at the dog and smiled before walking towards the ranch's gates. Some distance away, Gray stood looking at Jack. Jack felt his gaze and looked at him but Gray continued to stare, not knowing what to do, he ended up just waving. What did he do to Gray, he wondered?

* * *

The basic introductory stuff will be over by chapter four. A-and is anyone reading? I need to know if there's any interest at all in this story. P-please review. ;_;


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